Lincolnshire Echo: 291 COUNCIL STAFF EARN £50,000 A YEAR OR MORE

Almost 300 employees at Lincolnshire County Council are picking up £50,000 a year or more.

The Tax Payers' Alliance has listed the authority as 21st in a list of 25 for having the biggest middle management wage bill.

Lincolnshire County Council - the county's biggest employer - rejected the accusation, saying the study did not compare 'like with like'.

According to the report, which used figures from 2006/07, the county council had 291 staff on packages of £50,000 or more.

Their total wage bill was more than £18m - equating to £26 for each of the 686,000 people in Lincolnshire.

In 1996-97 there were only 12 people at the county council on more than £50,000 - meaning the number of top earners had increased by more than 20 times.

County Hall strongly defended its wage structure and criticised the methodology of the report.

Judith Davids, assistant director of people and modernisation, said: "The table does not compare like-for-like.

"Obviously Lincolnshire County Council employs significantly more people than district councils and is also comparatively one of the largest county councils in the country, so is therefore far more likely to contain higher numbers of people in this pay banding."

For the full story and how the council's wage bill compares with other professions, see Thursday's Lincolnshire Echo.